Best of

Best of

Recommended material – school year 2017/2018

In order to facilitate your work as a teacher we have created from the material produced by the Commission and other EU institutions a list with the best teaching material about the EU for primary and secondary schoolchildren. A group of educational experts from across Europe has selected this material. It is also available in the other official EU languages.

All about the EU

If you are between 14 and 18 and interested in finding out more about the European Union and what it has done or you, then this publication is for you! The European Union has been constructed over time. It is a continuous ‘work in progress’ and it will soon be your generation’s turn to decide what to do next. So now is the time for you to shape your own opinions about the EU.

This publication and the exercises it contains should provide food for thought not only for you, but also when talking about Europe with your friends and family.

This publication is a guide to the European Union (EU) and what it does. The first section explains in brief what the European Union is. The second section, ‘What the European Union does’, describes what the EU is doing in 35 different areas to improve the lives of people in Europe and further afield. The third section, ‘How the European Union makes decisions and takes action’, describes the institutions at the heart of the EU’s decision-making process and how their decisions are translated into actions.

This online quiz has been created for secondary school pupils to help them understand the basics about the EU. It can be played as part of a lesson or as homework. It works on computers, tablets and smartphones.

What do your students know about the European Union? This presentation will help you explain the basics in 15-30 minutes and prepare the ground for a discussion. The notes pages contain further information and links.

The United Kingdom is still a full member of the European Union, Art. 50 of the EU Treaty has not yet been triggered, and negotiations have not started. Europe in a nutshell will be updated as soon as things become clearer.

'Europe in a nutshell' focuses on the basics: What is Europe about? How did the EU develop? What does it do today? The Pamphlet gives the broader picture, combining geographical, historical, cultural and political perspectives, each part being presented on one page for easy printing. It is accompanied by a teachers' guide.

I think your pamphlet titled 'europe in a nutshell' is a very useful tool not only for youngsters but also for older ones, living outside of Europe, if they are interested in having a very general idea of european integration. Best wishes.

Please have a look at our more detailed youth material 'Let's explore Europe!' and 'Europe. A journal for young people'. You will find that they include all the territories like the Canary Islands and others. I hope you can use those in your classes.

Administrator,

23/09/2014 12:55

I understand the aim of making it easier for children but I try to teach children at the Canary Islands who find it very difficult to feel part of Europe, specially if they are not included in the information about the UE nor in the maps. We have partners in other islands like Guadeloupe or Greenland, who feel the same. Apart form this, I find this web page very useful.

Dear Ms Cantizano, Thank you for pointing out two aspects which we also considered when producing 'Europe in a nutshell'. 1. Number of continents: there are several ways of distinguishing the continents, resulting in a spread in the numbers of between four and seven. According to our sources, the seven continents' approach is most commonly used in Europe. 2. Territory of the EU: the brochure is aimed at children. That's why we chose to write the text as simple as possible. Referring to the particularities of the 'outermost regions', such as French Guiana or the Canaries, would have gone beyond the scope of explaining Europe in a 'nutshell'.

Administrator,

22/09/2014 15:22

The information in this document is very wrong. As far as I know there aren´t seven continents:http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continente. On the other hand, the Eropean Union is not only in Europe but also in the Canary Islands, Guadeloupe and other European Overseas Territories.

These slides can be used by teachers to make a powerpoint presentation about the EU. Each slide provides some simple facts or keywords in a style that can be easily understood by an audience with no prior knowledge of the EU. They explain key figures, policies and how the EU works and provide basic information on issues such as EU enlargement, the treaties and the EU symbols.

This all is very useful, however, in the Polish version slide #7 has an incorrect title. It says "Europejska Wspólnota Węgla i Stali," whereas the sbody of the slide refers to the EU candidate countries

This is a very useful set of slides that I have used several times for presentations on the EU. However, I wish you would remove the "langue de bois" used in some of the slides. To describe the Commission as "promoting the common interest" is less than useful. Most people understand far better if it is described as the EU's civil service. Unfortunately, I cannot edit the slide.

Graham Stroud,

14/10/2014 21:07

I am an international student, living in Poitiers and interesting in all the features abour the Euopean Union. I´m from Colombia